# French people you greatly admire **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 16, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709 "2003-03-16T03:00:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/21 "2003-03-16T19:52:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astorian \* > \*\*Michel de Montaigne (few political philosophers have been as brilliant, few have been as level-headed, and NONE has been as brilliant AND as level-headed). > > Claude Monet > > Blaise Pascal > > Teilhard de Chardin > > Georges Simenon > > Claude Debussy \*\* Georges Simenon was actually Belgian ( born in Liege ) but ,of course, his greatest creation was that great Frenchman Inspector Maigret. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/22 "2003-03-16T20:51:10Z")
Well, right off the top of my head there’s: Charles Boyer Yves Montand Honoré de Balzac Pierre Boulle Gustave Flaubert Andre Gide Èmile Zola Jean-Marie Arouet dit Voltaire Antoine de Saint-Exupery Louis Blériot Roger Vadim François Truffaut Edith Piaf Paul Gauguin René Descartes Michel Foucault Jean-Paul Sartre Auguste Rodin Louis Agassiz Antoine Lavoisier Henri Poincaré Alfred Dreyfus ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/23 "2003-03-16T21:06:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Laughing Lagomorph \* > \*\*You know, I was considering including in the OP that the thread was for real people only, not fictional characters. Whatever, people. \*\* Come on. _Pepe Le Pew_ is every bit as real as _Hercule Poirot_. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/24 "2003-03-16T21:35:34Z")
Louis Braille Juliette Binoche Victor Hugo Mon ami who provides content for a website I manage and who is unfailingly polite, friendly, and efficient ---
**Author:** ![Goodbeem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/958977/32.png) [@Goodbeem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goodbeem)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/25 "2003-03-16T21:39:22Z")
A lot of the above, and: Juliette Binoche Catherine Deneuve Brigitte Bardot Edith Piaf Louis de Funes Francois Lyotard Not to be a spoiler in my first post, but wasn’t Eleanor of Aquitaine [english](http://www.royalty.nu/Europe/England/Eleanor.html)? ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/26 "2003-03-16T21:57:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JThunder \* > \*\*Come on. _Pepe Le Pew_ is every bit as real as _Hercule Poirot_. \*\* This is a true statement. Is Poirot supposed to be French, though? ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/27 "2003-03-16T22:10:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Blue Sky \* > \*\*I’ll second Cousteau and add Genevieve Bujold (schwing :D) \*\* Sorry, [Geneviéve Bujold](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Bujold,+Genevi%E8ve) is Québecoise. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/28 "2003-03-16T22:29:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by detop \* > \*\*Sorry, [Geneviéve Bujold](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Bujold,+Genevi%E8ve) is Québecoise. \*\* Well, Quebec is _mostly_ French, right? Right? ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/29 "2003-03-16T22:45:42Z")
Yes, Québec is about 80 % francophone. The simple fact that we speak French (the kanguage) doesn’t make us French (the people). ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/30 "2003-03-16T22:49:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Laughing Lagomorph \* > \*\*Is Poirot supposed to be French, though? \*\* Nope. He’s from Belgium. ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/31 "2003-03-16T23:01:14Z")
Eleanor married an English king (so sad that I can’t recall which one right now, he was one of the big-deal ones), but she herself was, as the name implies, from Aquitaine, which is part of Modern-day France. I nominate Jacques-Louis David (painter), although he was buds with Robespierre during the Terror so maybe “admire” isn’t the right word. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/32 "2003-03-16T23:46:29Z")
**Jacques Cartier** , famous sea explorer. I grew up at the intersection of a street named for him and another named for **Jeanne d’Arc**. He landed in the Gaspé (in eastern Québec) planted a cross, and established fishing colonies. **Jeanne** was a woman who stirred up a lot of controversy in France a few centuries ago for, among other things, claiming to have been spoken to by God. **Samuel de Champlain** who roamed across the wilds of what is now Canada, using nautical tools like a sextant to measure his position, traveling with Iroquois hunting parties, and going where no european yet had. He’s also the originator of the culinary tradition known as the ‘Order of Good Cheer’, that saved his fledgeling colony in the Gaspé from the bitter Canadian winter of 1622-1623. **Radisson** & **Groseillers** , who traded, explored, and overall had a good time in the lands Champlain had been to. **General Montcalm** , who wouldn’t acquiesce to British demands that he surrender Québec and served excellently during the seven years war. He died during the 1759 siege of Québec that ended in the battle lof the Plains of Abraham. **Georges Guynemer** , famous WWI flying ace, 53 vicories. The pride of France in sad times. Didn’t the **Lumière Brothers** more-or-less invent practical cinematography? Some of may favourites, Sartre, Saint-Exupéry and DesCartes, ahve already been mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Goodbeem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/958977/32.png) [@Goodbeem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goodbeem)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/33 "2003-03-16T23:50:10Z")
Right, Eleanor was French. though queen of England (she married Louis VII of France and after that Henri II of England). Makes her even more cool. Eugene Delacroix (painter) Virginie Ledoyen (actress) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/34 "2003-03-17T00:22:45Z")
**[René Guénon](http://www.maths.ex.ac.uk/~mwatkins/zeta/guenon.htm)** (1886-1951), the great metaphysician, who brought together in his studies the essential esoterisms of Hindu Vedanta, Sufi Islam, and Taoism. He was also a mathematician, as shown in his books _The Principles of Infinitesmical Calculus_ and _The Multiple States of Being_. Guénon had an incalculable effect on esoteric studies in the 20th century and is still considered a pathbreaking exponent of traditional metaphysics, the first one to bring together what the different esoteric traditions shared in common. He was born at Blois in France and died at Cairo where he spent the last 20 years of his life as a Sufi. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/35 "2003-03-17T01:23:00Z")
Chirac ---
**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/36 "2003-03-17T01:23:51Z")
I admire Maurice Ravel the absolute most. He wasn’t as prolific as many of the other composers out there but everything that he published was a true masterpiece other than Bolero which was simply a training exercise that somehow gained popularity. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Goo\_Fee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Doctor\_Goo\_Fee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Goo_Fee)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/37 "2003-03-17T01:44:52Z")
I second Chirac… and give a vote for the UN ambassador from France too… and also the whole damn country, for that matter ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/38 "2003-03-17T01:59:47Z")
**Emilie du Chatelet** , eighteenth-century mathematician. She garnered a certain notoriety for being Voltaire’s mistress, but she deserves her own mention as a scholar in a time when women were not usually well-educated. Although they’ve been mentioned, I am also terribly fond of **Matisse** and **Renoir**. I have prints from both of them on my walls. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/39 "2003-03-17T02:30:37Z")
I’d say [Jean Moulin](http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Moulin), a hero of the French resistance, a minor bureaucrat who allowed himself to be tortured to death rather than reveal information to the Nazis; and Pierre Seel, a gay man who survived deportation and torture by the Nazis, lived through shame, fear, and silence for forty years after the war, and finally as an old man came out, published his story (as _I, Pierre Seel, Deported Homosexual_) and became an advocate for gay rights and the memory of the men with the pink triangle. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/40 "2003-03-17T02:32:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by detop \* > \*\*Yes, Québec is about 80 % francophone. The simple fact that we speak French (the kanguage) doesn’t make us French (the people). \*\* I stand corrected. Still, Bujold is hot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709.md?page=3)